1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wireless devices and networks, and in particular, to systems and related methods for measuring wireless device and wireless network usage and performance metrics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, consumers have used wireless devices for basic telephony with limited use of basic one-way text messaging features and enterprise based data applications. The recent growth in the wireless industry along with the popularity of the internet has led to a natural convergence of the two. This new combined communications application and set of services including applications such as wireless web microbrowsing, web clipping applications, one-way and two-way text messaging, are commonly referred to in the industry as wireless data, wireless internet, or wireless web services: Mobile telephone handsets, pagers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), for example, all now have wireless data capabilities and are commonly referred to in the industry as wireless devices.
Wireless data is an enhancement to traditional wireless services provided by cellular, PCS, SMR, and paging network operators. The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a key enabler of wireless dataxe2x80x94with wireless device users now able to browse internet sites, purchase goods and services, send and receive email, have a broad array of internet content pushed to their wireless devices, and access corporate and personal information using their wireless devices. Today in the United States carriers have rolled these wireless data services out over networks such as circuit-switched and CDPD, but these and other services will soon be provided over faster, more advanced wireless network technologies, for example High Data Rate [HDR], General Packet Radio Service [GPRS], Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution [EDGE], 1XRTT, CDMA2000, and Wideband CDMA [W-CDMA].
Wireless data industry participants such as service providers, advertisers, content providers and electronic and mobile commerce companies have a need for information on consumer activity and usage of wireless data. First, for example, there exists a need to collect information on the activity and usage behavior of wireless data users. Consumer usage, audience, and purchase information statistics are staples in most developed industries. There is a need to rapidly make these information streams available to all participants of this new and not well understood industry in order to expedite the development of more effective service and product offeringsxe2x80x94thereby improving the satisfaction level of users, accelerating the overall growth of the industry, and saving industry participants time and money by avoiding uninformed strategies and initiatives. Second, for example, there is a need to make available to the wireless industry a continuous, real-time set of independent and unbiased network and device performance data. Not only is there a need by network operators and device manufacturers to benchmark the performance of their own networks and devices specifically as it relates to wireless data and more traditional wireless voice applications, but also there is a need to provide to sellers, advertisers, and content providers objective data on the level of service customers are receiving from wireless network and device partners. Third, for example, there is a need to integrate these information streams together, thereby providing industry participants an improved understanding of how wireless network service levels and device performance characteristics (and changes in them) impact wireless data user behavior. For instance, there is a need by electronic and mobile commerce companies to quantify xe2x80x9clost revenuexe2x80x9d resulting from a failed wireless transaction due to poor network performance.
While the popularity of wireless telephony and WAP-based data services is surging, there has been no reliable system for measuring wireless data user behavior. Today, competitive marketing information on the wireless data industry is obtained primarily through consumer surveys, the accuracy of which are unreliable and often in question by the industry.
As a result, there is an acute demand for a more accurate service that monitors user activity and usage of wireless data. Wireless network operators, wireless device manufacturers, advertisers, and content providers are all looking for more accurate and detailed information to be able to better understand the behavior, experiences, and needs of wireless data users. Limited data presently exists on even the most basic of questions regarding wireless data usersxe2x80x94the numbers and demographics of users; what wireless devices and networks they use; when, how often, for how long, and from what location they access the wireless internet; what sites they visit; what transactions they execute; what advertisements they view/redeem, etc. As the industry advances and matures and users of wireless data become more sophisticated, the ability to track user behavior over time will also become particularly important. Services exist in the wired internet and other industries that provide this type of consumer usage, audience rating, and purchase data.
Creating a system and method to effectively and accurately collect wireless data consumer usage and activity information poses a number of challenges over the wired internet industry. For instance, challenges typically confronted where wireless devices are involved include restricted memory capacity, power limitations, limited processing power, multiple proprietary operating systems with limited interfaces, and the like. Furthermore, there is a need to accommodate activity relating to different wireless network protocols, each designed according to its own specifications. Moreover, there is a need to track activity across a range of data applications and protocols including for example WAP, web clipping applications, HTML, WML, and XML browsers.
As the wireless data industry prepares for the expected flood of new wireless data users, there exists a strong market need for improved wireless data consumer usage and activity information.
A strong market need exists for a system to monitor the performance of wireless data networks and wireless devices. At present, there is no industry standard for xe2x80x9cQuality of Servicexe2x80x9d (QOS) data on the performance of wireless data networks. Currently, network operators generally conduct proprietary drive test network benchmarking activities solely for their own internal use. Network operators generally do not make this information available to external parties, such as dotcoms, internet content partners, wireless data application services providers, wireless advertisers, wireless electronic commerce companies, etc. Even if such information were made available to other industry participants outside the network operator""s organization, the information would not be sufficient because of the proprietary nature and varying approaches for data collection across network operators, lack of a standard schedule for data collection, and biases resulting from rating the performance of a network provider""s own network versus that of its competitors.
Consequently, there is a need for a more robust and real-time method of monitoring the data performance of wireless networks. Network operators are inexperienced in providing data services, and they are keenly interested in information that will help them understand how their networks stack up in supplying wireless data services and where, when, and how to optimize their networks. Carrier interest in objective QOS data has been further heightened by recent federal mandates for E911 service capabilitiesxe2x80x94carriers can no longer tolerate coverage gaps and prolonged problems in their service areas. Objective information on the performance of network operators is also of great interest to other wireless industry participants who are looking to focus their sales, marketing, and product development efforts on those network operators and geographies providing satisfactory levels of service to wireless data users. In the wired internet industry, existing information service companies provide non-user based, automated, real-time QOS tracking of web hosting servers and backbone networks. There now exists a need to capture performance measurements which include wireless data in addition to the traditional back-end wireline performance metrics. This type of end-to-end measurement, which includes wireless data, is a more complex process compared with the back-end measurement typified by the wired internet industry as it must include the radio link. Continuously tracking statistics concerning RSSI, channel assignments, bit error rates, transmit power, call result, etc. can benefit the wireless data industry participants and users.
Similarly, there is a need for improvement in the real-time collection of wireless device statistics. Presently, manufacturers conduct only pre-shipping device performance tests. Once in the hands of consumers, the burden ordinarily is placed solely on wireless data users to determine whether a device is not functioning correctly. This is fairly easy if the device does not turn on or is visibly broken, but more difficult when other more subtle failures or performance degradations occur. For instance, there exists a need for wireless device parametric information based on real-time user activity (which can be tracked over a period of time) on metrics such as DSP, battery life, power consumption, finger assignments, etc. Device manufacturers and network operators, for example, could use this information to identify and replace xe2x80x9cout of specxe2x80x9d or malfunctioning devices, thus reducing the number of wireless data users experiencing wireless device related performance problems. Other information such as available memory, control settings, and Personal Information Management (PIM) feature utilization could also assist device manufacturers in planning future wireless device features. Overall, such a capability could lead to greater wireless data user satisfaction with network operators, wireless device manufacturers, applications companies, as well as help those parties more quickly understand device performance characteristics and address device design and manufacturing issues, in order to bring improved products and services to consumers.
The breadth of information services encompassed within the invention as well as the ability to capture real-time, comprehensive marketing and performance information is distinguished from any conventional market research methods that currently exist. The unique ability to integrate these data streams adds further value to the wireless data community. For example, the invention will for the first time simultaneously collect information about user activity and network performance. By analyzing these two data streams, service providers will be able to draw meaningful insights into the effects that network performance has on the usage patterns of their customers.
There also exists an increasing need to make available to location-based advertisers information on latency and delivery failure rates of xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d notification services over competing wireless networks at specific times and in specific geographies (e.g., during a baseball game at the local ball park). Moreover, a need has developed for access to GPS location data or delivery statistics in conjunction with other metrics (e.g., consumer usage behavior, network and device performance) to make real time assessments of network operator service capabilities at specific times and locations. As current constraints on wireless device performance are overcome, constraints such as bandwidth, speed, memory, screen size, etc., there will be an increasing need for information concerning user activity and usage, wireless network performance, and wireless device performance.
The present invention encompasses systems and related methods for providing wireless device and wireless network usage and performance metrics.
A system for measuring wireless device and wireless network usage and performance metrics is set forth. The system includes a wireless device with a processor and memory, data gathering software installed on the wireless device for collecting device parametric data, network parametric data, and event data. The data gathering software may also collect location data and time stamp data. A plurality of wireless devices may be distributed to a panel of selected users.
In one embodiment of the invention, data gathering software may be composed of various modules for collecting device parametric data, network parametric data, and event data, and transmitting collected data via a wireless communication network to a control center for processing.
Another aspect of the invention sets forth a method for measuring wireless device and wireless network usage and performance metrics. The method includes collecting device parametric data, network parametric data, and event data, for example, and transmitting the collected data via a wireless communication network to one or more control centers for processing. In one embodiment of the invention, processing at a control center produces products relating to usage and activity, network performance and device performance, which may be integrated with location and time stamp data.